What are you currently reading?

Started by facehugger, April 07, 2007, 12:36:10 AM

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Artem

I rarely leave books unfinished, but that one by Conrad I stopped reading after 30-40 pages or so.

Recently finished this book. It's my second by Drndic. It's a kaleidoscope kind of novel, with world/country/personal history mixed in one. I have mixed feelings about it, but Drndic is a great author. I look forward to reading more of her books.


vers la flamme

Quote from: Artem on August 01, 2021, 10:16:31 PM
I rarely leave books unfinished, but that one by Conrad I stopped reading after 30-40 pages or so.


Afraid I'm about to do the same thing. It's a tough slog. I'd better leave it and return in a better state of mind.

vers la flamme

Last night I started William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying



So far, I'm really enjoying this. Though I may not always understand everything that's happening, it's not nearly as difficult as I was expecting.

aligreto

Jennifer Egan: Manhattan Beach





This is a good story that is well told. It is a well constructed and a well written book. The plot is straightforward and credible and there are not too many characters involved and this allows for very adequate character development. The story is based in New York before and during WWII. One develops a strong affinity with the main character and her father, this relationship being the core of the work. There are moments of both violence and tenderness to be experienced here. It is all set amid a backdrop of crime. A most entertaining and enjoyable read.

vandermolen

Niklas Frank: 'The Father - A Revenge'.
A most extraordinary work. Many years ago I saw this most impressive German journalist and his Oxford educated daughter interviewed about being, respectively, son and grand-daughter of Hans Frank - 'The Butcher of Poland' (executed at Nuremberg). In the book the author imagines visiting his father in Hell where, seated on a throne, he is surrounded by the blood of all his victims:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

foxandpeng

Quote from: vandermolen on August 03, 2021, 04:38:22 AM
Niklas Frank: 'The Father - A Revenge'.
A most extraordinary work. Many years ago I saw this most impressive German journalist and his Oxford educated daughter interviewed about being, respectively, son and grand-daughter of Hans Frank - 'The Butcher of Poland' (executed at Nuremberg). In the book the author imagines visiting his father in Hell where, seated on a throne, he is surrounded by the blood of all his victims:


Sounds harrowing stuff. I find the examination of human nature and its relationship to structuralists views of history, really interesting. Enjoy seems the wrong word, but I hope you profit greatly from it! :)
"A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people ... then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbour — such is my idea of happiness"

Tolstoy

vandermolen

Quote from: foxandpeng on August 03, 2021, 05:26:55 AM
Sounds harrowing stuff. I find the examination of human nature and its relationship to structuralists views of history, really interesting. Enjoy seems the wrong word, but I hope you profit greatly from it! :)
Many thanks - I'm sure that I will.  :)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mandryka

Quote from: vers la flamme on August 02, 2021, 02:18:23 AM
Afraid I'm about to do the same thing. It's a tough slog. I'd better leave it and return in a better state of mind.

Much the same experience with Heart of Darkness and indeed Nostromo. I quite enjoyed The Secret Agent though.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Quote from: vers la flamme on August 03, 2021, 03:06:58 AM
Last night I started William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying



So far, I'm really enjoying this. Though I may not always understand everything that's happening, it's not nearly as difficult as I was expecting.

By coincidence I started to read this today, having thoroughly enjoyed making some sort of sense of The Sound and the Fury.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

André

Quote from: vers la flamme on August 03, 2021, 03:06:58 AM
Last night I started William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying



So far, I'm really enjoying this. Though I may not always understand everything that's happening, it's not nearly as difficult as I was expecting.

Quote from: Mandryka on August 03, 2021, 11:22:10 AM
By coincidence I started to read this today, having thoroughly enjoyed making some sort of sense of The Sound and the Fury.

By coincidence I just finished John Grisham's The Reckoning. It's set in 1950. There's a scene in which one of the main characters dines in a restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi. Knowing it's Faulkner's favourite haunt, he has taken with him books to be signed by the great man (As I lay Dying and « his latest », Intruder in the Dust ). Faulkner of course gracefully obliges. Intruder is one of my favourite books by Faulkner.

The Reckoning is a rather dark opus by Grisham. Nothing good happens to the character - everything goes from bad to worse. It's still captivating though.

vers la flamme

Quote from: Mandryka on August 03, 2021, 11:22:10 AM
By coincidence I started to read this today, having thoroughly enjoyed making some sort of sense of The Sound and the Fury.

Very interesting coincidence. Do let me know what you think. I haven't even tried The Sound & the Fury yet; something told me As I Lay Dying might be an easier place to start.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Yukio Mishima, Modern No (Noh) Plays. As always, elegant, paradoxical, and sharp.

Spotted Horses

Quote from: vers la flamme on August 03, 2021, 03:06:58 AM
Last night I started William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying



So far, I'm really enjoying this. Though I may not always understand everything that's happening, it's not nearly as difficult as I was expecting.

I also started reading this book in the last few days. I've read it before, maybe twice before. I've read all of Faulkner's major works and have a goal of reading them again in the next few years. Although I own the hardcover volume my immediate motivation is that the kindle edition was on deep sale last week, and it is much easier to find time to read when I can use my iPad or iPhone.

I don't have. To get to the end to give my opinion. Like all of Faulkner's work, it is brilliant.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

vers la flamme

Quote from: Spotted Horses on August 04, 2021, 02:40:59 AM
I also started reading this book in the last few days. I've read it before, maybe twice before. I've read all of Faulkner's major works and have a goal of reading them again in the next few years. Although I own the hardcover volume my immediate motivation is that the kindle edition was on deep sale last week, and it is much easier to find time to read when I can use my iPad or iPhone.

I don't have. To get to the end to give my opinion. Like all of Faulkner's work, it is brilliant.

Interesting how three of us decided to read this at once; maybe it's the sweltering summer heat—well, at least for the two of us in the South; can't say I'm familiar with what the weather is like in Mandryka's part of the world (London?). This is my first Faulkner. I am enjoying it, though finding it challenging at times, sometimes difficult to even understand what's going on. But knowing this is not likely to be my one and only time reading this book, I'm trying to be forgiving with myself when I don't pick up on every last detail. I'm about halfway through the book now.

Spotted Horses

Quote from: vers la flamme on August 04, 2021, 03:14:44 AM
Interesting how three of us decided to read this at once; maybe it's the sweltering summer heat—well, at least for the two of us in the South; can't say I'm familiar with what the weather is like in Mandryka's part of the world (London?). This is my first Faulkner. I am enjoying it, though finding it challenging at times, sometimes difficult to even understand what's going on. But knowing this is not likely to be my one and only time reading this book, I'm trying to be forgiving with myself when I don't pick up on every last detail. I'm about halfway through the book now.

Even having read the book before and being familiar with Faulkner's style, it is important to take time to absorb it. Often I find myself going back to reread a previous section after something is revealed. In the best works of Faulkner, the interest is in the voices. Often they are telling you things about themselves they don't realize they are telling you.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Mandryka

I'm on page 20. Anse. I have to read it aloud, I just think it's so musical, so beautiful, so oral. And I'm very moved because it's making me think of when my mother died, of how hard it was to be with her as she took her ast gasp,  the hardest thing ever.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Spotted Horses

Quote from: Mandryka on August 04, 2021, 04:11:11 AM
I'm on page 20. Anse. I have to read it aloud, I just think it's so musical, so beautiful, so oral. And I'm very moved because it's making me think of when my mother died, of how hard it was to be with her as she took her ast gasp,  the hardest thing ever.

And, of course, it takes place in a world in which the chance to share your mothers last moments on earth must be weighed against the sacrifice of an opportunity to earn three dollars.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

T. D.


Karl Henning

Quote from: Jo498 on July 20, 2021, 04:27:06 AM
Of these only Huckleberry Finn and The Three Musketeers could be classified as adventure novels and I'd say that Huck Finn is more of a picaresque (like Quixote). The two others aren't even novels and while I probably read some children's version of a few Arabian Nights tales (like Sindbad's travels) around the same time in elementary school, the originals are usually too adult.

The good thing about Treasure Island is that it is not as historically loaded as Scott or Dumas (and not as long either...). I suspect that Stevenson got a bit more into that Scott Tradition with Kidnapped/Catriona (while keeping a teenager as main character) and I liked the first (although I read it much later as an adult) I don't think it is as good as Treasure Island.

BTW, for those who like the Arabian Nights, I highly recommend the "The Manuscript found in Saragossa" by Count Jan Potocki. The guy's life was stranger than many novels and that novel is a crazy wild ride (and the book had a strange fate as well).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Potocki

The MS. Found in Saragossa is marvelous! Our Cato put me on to that.

TD:

This is a re-read, but I first read it as a teenager, and I remembered nothing of either of the first two stories.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vers la flamme

Quote from: Mandryka on August 04, 2021, 04:11:11 AM
I'm on page 20. Anse. I have to read it aloud, I just think it's so musical, so beautiful, so oral. And I'm very moved because it's making me think of when my mother died, of how hard it was to be with her as she took her ast gasp,  the hardest thing ever.

Sorry for your loss. I lost my mother at quite a young age—probably about the same age as Vardaman in the book—and like him I couldn't make any sense of it at the time, though I was crushed.

@Spotted Horses: Where do you rate this book in comparison to Faulkner's other works? Is it your favorite? I understand it's somewhat unique in comparison to the others, in terms of every (short) chapter being narrated by a different voice.

I'm very fond of Darl's chapters. I also kind of wish we got to hear more from Jewel. He is one of the more intriguing characters, to me.